This week’s Time Capsule looks at Cheatham’s Hill, the Atherton’s Drug Store explosion, a bus wreck, liquor and the Olympics.

100 years ago …

In Friday, May 15, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, there was a front page story about the $20,000 monument being erected on Cheatham’s Hill by the State of Illinois. The monument’s unveiling was expected to be June 27.

Cheatham’s Hill was one of “the memorable battles of the war. The Federals and Confederates faced each other there for six days and six nights, their lines being so close that the soldiers were in ordinary speaking distance.” The battle was fought from June 27 to July 3 and on the last day the Confederates withdrew because of a flanking movement. The withdrawal was well timed since Union forces had constructed a tunnel far into the hill and placed explosives under the Confederates position intending to blow them up on the 4th of July.

The monument was being built to honor the site where the Illinois regiments fought at the battle. Soldiers, who had been in the battle, bought about 40 acres of land from B.B. Channell. The State of Illinois contracted McNeel Marble Company to use Georgia marble to make the monument, which was to be 28-feet square at the base and 26-feet in height. On the face was to be a bronze group with the central figure being a soldier at parade rest. On one side was to be a woman representing the State of Illinois and on the other a woman representing Peace.

50 years ago …

A proposed constitutional amendment, sponsored by Cobb Rep. Joe Mack Wilson, was reported in the Sunday, May 10, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal that was designed to prevent annexation of Cobb County areas into the city of Atlanta. Wilson was reported as being perturbed by Atlanta officials’ announced intention to annex large neighborhoods which adjoin the city. Leaders in Atlanta cited their annexation drives as a move to prevent the city’s rapidly growing black population from becoming politically dominant.

Also that day, the City of Marietta hired a dog catcher and was expected to begin enforcing the dog control ordinance adopted earlier in the year by the Council. City Manager Walter Brown said that the first phase of the drive was to clear the streets of dogs and pick up “obvious” strays.

An 18-year-old spurned lover was reported in the Monday, May 11, 1964 paper as being held without bond in the county jail after shooting his 15-year-old ex-fiancé’s father at an Allatoona campsite the day before. The father was listed in critical condition at Kennestone Hospital after suffering shotgun injuries to the groin and upper leg. The man’s daughter was also struck in the upper chest with a pellet from the shotgun and was treated then dismissed from the hospital.

Another story in that paper reported that excavation operations continued on the construction of the proposed new Cobb County courthouse. There had been speculation that an attempt might be made to halt the work on the project, but the Clerk of Court John LeCroy said no injunction orders had been filed.

In the Tuesday, May 12, 1964 paper it was reported that the largest commercial order for airplanes designed exclusively for cargo, which totaled $44 million, was placed with Lockheed by The Flying Tiger Line. The eight Super StarLifters order was reported by Flying Tiger president R.W. Prescott and Lockheed-Georgia Company president W.A. Pulver.

An additional story in the edition reported a suit stemming from the Halloween explosion of Atherton’s Drug Store on the Marietta Square had been filed by Jimmy Lee Smith for $250,000 against the Atlanta Gas Light Company. Smith, who was 18, contended that the explosion caused him the loss of his left leg. The suit taken by Smith’s mother charged that the Atlanta Gas Light Company was negligent in maintenance of the gas main leading to the basement of the drugstore. The suit alleged that the gas main was corroded and a small hole developed in the line causing the basement to fill with natural gas and explode.

Cobb County parents, upset by a school bus wreck earlier in the week, were reported in the Wednesday, May 13, 1964 paper as asking the Cobb Board of Education for an explanation. The bus, occupied at the time by the driver and five students, plunged off Franklin Road at the Rottenwood Creek Bridge in Marietta after a wheel came off. School Superintendent Jasper Griffith said an expert mechanic examined the wheel and determined that the cause of the mishap was a worn bearing.

Efforts to bring the wet-dry issue to a vote in Cobb County was reported in the Friday, May 15, 1964 paper as having drawn a severe setback as Ordinary Garvis Sams ruled that a petition submitted and found lacking sufficient names last month was void. Sams’ ruling came as representatives of the Committee to Bring Tax Revenue to Cobb County attempted to file a 305-name amendment to the ill-fated petition. Sams said the petition was now a part of the county records and therefore it was not amendable.

20 years ago …

In the Tuesday, May 10, 1964 MDJ it was reported that a dozen gay-rights activists took to Interstate 75 and formed a moving blockade to slow traffic and make a point – get the Olympic volleyball preliminaries out of Cobb or face the consequences. Almost a dozen cars entered I-75 at the South Loop about 6 p.m. and drove six-abreast all the way to Atlanta at 40 mph or less with frustrated motorists lining up behind them. Police said they were unable to create a massive traffic jam.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at the Mary Phagan case, the Cobb County courthouse and Cherokee Indian Chief Nickajack.

100 years ago …

In Friday, May 8, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, there was a story about “world famous detective” William J. Burns being driven from Marietta the previous Friday by a crowd of angry citizens. Burns was working on the Mary Phagan murder case in Atlanta an the testimony which he was alleged dug up on the case had turned “public sentiment strongly against him.”

After being slapped by a citizen at the Brumby garage on Church Street and threatened by the crowd, Burns was reported as running up Church Street to and through the car barn before reaching the Whitlock House, where he took refuge. Judge N.A. Morris, Deputy Sheriff Geo Hicks, Mayor E.P. Dobbs, F.G. Marchman and the editor of the Journal went to the hotel to try to prevent further violence. An agreement was reached with the crowd and Judge Morris that Burns would leave the city immediately and be driven to Atlanta.

There was a front page ad for Traffic in Souls, a six-part Universal Film Manufacturing Company photo drama, at the Princess Theatre and one for The Southern Song Birds, which was dubbed “the biggest and best Vaudeville act ever seen in Marietta” at the Gem Theatre.

50 years ago …

In the Sunday, May 3, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal there was a story about Cobb Rep. E.W. “Bill” Teague becoming the fifth candidate in the race to succeed retiring Cobb Commissioner Herbert McCollum as a flurry of late-hour contenders entered the County Democratic Primary. Teague, who had Smyrna Businessman T.L. Dickson as his running mate for deputy, paid his qualifying fee just 30 minutes before the entry deadline for all primary races.

Marietta firemen were reported in the Monday, May 4, 1964 papers as having evacuated the Cobb Theatre while they searched for a bomb. An official at the fire department said that a male caller told someone at the theater to “take heed there’s a bomb in the building.” A search of the building turned up nothing.

Another story that day reported that the “ancient and decaying” Cobb County Courthouse, built in 1872, was “ticketed for beheading.” The courthouse’s tower was to be torn down that week. Plans called for the tower to be leveled to a point just underneath the bricked-in windows under the clock. C.J. Thomas Construction Company of Marietta was in charge of the job.

There was also a story that day about two Fair Oaks boys being recommended for life-saving awards for their bravery in rescuing an eight-year-old Cub Scout from Wildcat Creek. The boy slipped off a rock from where he was fishing and fell into the swollen creek. The two 10-year-old boys jumped into the cold, swirling water and pulled the youth to safety.

In the Tuesday, May 5, 1964 paper it was reported that the Cobb Advisory Board voted to begin work immediately on construction of a new county courthouse. The construction was to include the first increment of plans to provide the county with a complex of government buildings. First to be built was the judicial building – housing courtrooms, judges chambers and administrative offices of the courts. Land for the judicial building had been purchased immediately east of the then-courthouse’s location, a tract bordered by Washington, Waddell, Lawrence and Haynes Streets. The decision came after the board heard Marietta Mayor Howard Atherton and County Attorney Raymond Reed. Atherton gave the findings of a structural inspection and Reed urging the board to start work “tomorrow” on a new building.

The following day, Wednesday, May 6, 1964, there was story that stated Marietta building inspector Fred C. Reinke and Captain Bartow C. Adair of the city’s fire department had completed a two-day investigation with a report about the Cobb County courthouse. The defects discovered in the 87-year-old building, that were known to officials before, included “holes in the room as big as bushel baskets, severe erosion in some of the brickwork, rotting timbers and antiquated construction creating an extreme fire hazard.”

Another story that day reported a fire which erupted when sparks from a welding torch flew into a paint vat and extensively damaged the Stephens Brothers Ornamental Iron works on Canton highway. Chief W.H. Williams of the Fullers Fire Department said that when his men arrived, the roof over one section of the building had already fallen in.

A café operator in Canton was reported in the Thursday, May 7, 1964 paper as being in very serious condition following an incident in which he shot Cherokee County Sheriff Dan Stringer, a longtime friend, and then turned the gun on himself. Cherokee Chief Deputy Clarence Grambling said the man shot himself twice in the side at his home minutes after wounding Sheriff Stringer, who was attempting to disarm the man at the café. The sheriff was shot once in the chest, but reported as in good condition and would undergo surgery to remove the bullet.

20 years ago …

In the Tuesday, May 3, 1994 MDJ it was reported that the grave of supposed Cherokee Indian Chief Nickajack might be in the path of a bridge on the proposed East-West Connector in southeast Cobb, Indian officials told Cobb County. A letter from Charles O. Thurmond, an archeologist and historian for the Dahlonega-based Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee, asked Cobb transportation director Jim Croy for “a complete rundown” of the much-delayed road project – which called for a four-lane road to be built between Macland and Powder Springs roads. Croy responded to the letter saying that Cobb DOT had no information as to the location of the supposed gravesite.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at the Leo Frank case, I-75, liquor, vandalism and Gordon Wysong.

100 years ago …

In Friday, May 1, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, there was a second page story reporting a development in the now famous Mary Phagan murder case. A few days before the paper was published, it was reported that Rev. C.B. Ragsdale, the pastor “of a church at Kirkwood,” visited Leo Frank’s lawyers. Rev. Ragsdale made an affidavit that claimed on the Monday night after Mary Phagan was murdered he went into an alley near the Terminal Station. While he was there two black men arrived and one of them confessed to the other that he had been the one to murder Mary Phagan.

The story reported that Rev. Ragsdale had not known Jim Conley, but that R.L. Barber - an acquaintance of the pastor waiting on him at the entrance to the alley - had recognized him. Ragsdale was also reported as having allowing the trial to go on and Frank to be convicted “without opening his mouth because he did not want to get mixed up in the trial.” Conley, the janitor at the National Pencil Company Factory during the time of the murder, is believed by many historians to be the real murderer of Mary Phagan.

A second story in that week’s edition reported the first anniversary of the death of Mary Phagan. Rev. King of Atlanta brought with him a large party of family and friends who covered the grave in the Marietta City Cemetery with roses and lilies.

50 years ago …

In the Sunday, April 26, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal it was reported that the Marietta City Council voted to sell 24 acres of property to the U.S. government for use in construction of Interstate 75. The land, located east of the Four Lane – now known as U.S. Highway 41 – and south of Beech Street would bring $19,700 into the city treasury. City Manager Walter Brown told the council that the land was “of no practical value” to the city and the price was fair.

A mammoth temperance rally was reported in the Monday, April 27, 1964 paper as being planned for the Marietta Square. Thousands of protestors were expected to participate in the rally, which was sponsored by the Cobb County Evangelical Ministers Association. The ministers said they were holding the mass meeting to protest a liquor referendum that was expected to be voted upon on May 6.

Slick Corporation, an all-cargo airline, was reported in the Tuesday, April 28, 1964 paper as having ordered four Lockheed StarLifters and had obtained an option on two more of the planes. D.W. Rentzel of the Slick Corporation said that his company had decided to order the StarLifters after completing evaluation studies of other planes. The StarLifters to be delivered to Slick were to be L-300B versions, a lengthened version of the C-141A transport currently in production at Lockheed-Georgia.

In the Wednesday, April 29, 1964 paper it was reported that there would not be a liquor referendum in Cobb County on May 6. Cobb Ordinary Garvis Sams cancelled the wet-dry election because the Committee to Bring Tax Revenue to Cobb County lacked a sufficient number of valid signatures on its petition requesting the vote. Sams said the petitioners were “about 200” signatures short of the minimum required by law.

State Highway Department plans for the routing of Interstate Highway 75 north of Marietta were reported in the Thursday, April 30, 1964 paper as bringing strong protests from business and governmental leaders in Cartersville. That town’s mayor, Charles A. Cowan, had called the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and leaders in the north Cobb area for support in the protest. The route, which came to pass, was planned to pass north of Kennesaw close to the site of the proposed Cobb Junior College – known today at Kennesaw State University – and would clip the southwest corner of Cherokee County and cross Lake Allatoona near Red Top Mountain passing east of Cartersville.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was reported in the Friday, May 1, 1964 paper as having been asked to find the vandals who toppled Civil War cannons and committed other damage at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.

20 years ago …

In the Monday, April 25, 1994 MDJ it was reported that the Cobb District Attorney’s Office was seeking the death penalty in eight murder cases, the highest number of such cases ever in the county and the highest of any other county in the metro area. Seven defendants were facing the death penalty, according to District Attorney Tom Charron, who said it was not uncommon to have six or seven death penalty cases awaiting trial in Cobb. However, this was the highest in all his years at the post.

Cobb Commissioner Gordon Wysong, author of the county’s 1993 resolution condemning the gay lifestyle, was reported as picking up opposition during the first day of qualifying. Thomas R. Carter, a 54-year-old unemployed computer consultant from east Cobb, paid the $670 qualifying fee to run as a Democrat against the Republican incumbent. Carter said, if elected, he would vote to rescind the controversial resolution but would not make that a focal point of his campaign. He said it was part of a larger image problem Cobb needed to address. The commotion generated by the resolution’s adoption had not died down since August 1993 and a group of gay-rights activists were using it to try to force Olympic officials to pull preliminary volleyball matches from the Cobb Galleria Centre.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at Lockheed, liquor sales, Joe Mack Wilson, KSU and the Olympics.

100 years ago …

In Friday, April 24, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported the death of Egbert Barrows Freyer who was “one of the most prominent and popular men in Marietta and one of the city’s best citizens.” Freyer was a partner in the McNeel Marble Co. and a vestry-man of St. James Episcopal Church. He was the designer of monuments for his firm and “had no superior in such work in the South.”

Another front page story reported the death of J.B. Delk who had been seriously injured after getting caught in the shafting of his mill a month earlier.

50 years ago …

A crew door, located in the forward portion of a Lockheed C-141, was reported in the Sunday, April 19, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal as having fallen off during a test flight. The door came off about 20 miles west of Marietta. There was no damage reported to the plane or injuries to the crew. Lockheed was seeking to retrieve the door so engineers could determine why it fell off.

Officials of the Sabin Oral Sunday drive were reported in the Monday, April 20, 1964 paper as having expressed disappointment over the turnout for the third and final dose of Sabin Oral Vaccine, an anti-polio vaccination. Totals from the 12 schools dispensing the vaccine listed 50,846 doses were administered. This was roughly half of the number that turned out for the first dosage in February.

In the Tuesday, April 21, 1964 paper it was reported that package liquor sales, long outlawed in Cobb County, were expected to be voted upon on May 6. Ordinary Garvis Sams said the referendum was called after petitions bearing almost 13,000 names were delivered to his office. The last liquor election in Cobb at the time had been March 12, 1958.

Also that day, it was reported that one of Lockheed Georgia’s JetStars would take off from a Newark, N.J. runway on a 3,900-mile flight to Germany’s famous Hanover Air Show. In approximately 500-minutes of flying time, the nine-miles-a-minute “Time Machine” was expected to reach its destination. Pilots Dick Shieber and Warren Lee with Flight Engineer F.A. Decuper comprised the crew. The plane was entered into the show to demonstrate to European business leaders the JetStar’s capabilities.

A Canton man was reported in the Wednesday, April 22, 1964 paper as being fatally injured after falling from near the top of the Lockheed manufacturing building. An electrical helper, the man plunged almost 40 feet from a mobile work basket. He and a co-worker were replacing fluorescent lights in the ceiling of the B-1 building when the accident happened.

Another story in that paper reported that after weeks of speculation, Joe Mack Wilson qualified for commissioner of roads and revenue in the fall elections. Arthur Bacon, a Smyrna businessman, qualified on the Wilson ticket to run for the office of deputy commissioner. Wilson, serving his second term as a Cobb representative in the state legislature, pledged himself to strive for improvements in education and mental health as well as improvements in the county road system.

In the Thursday, April 23, 1964 paper it was reported that voters voiced an over-whelming endorsement of the $2,350,000 junior college bond issue. Official tallies showed the margin of victory to be greater than the most ardent supporters of the issue had anticipated – 6,305 votes in favor to 871 votes against. Separate elections were conducted by the City of Marietta and the Cobb Board of Education. The issue carried by a 12 to 1 margin in the city and 6 to 1 in the county. The bond drive for the junior college, which would later become Kennesaw State University, was spearheaded by a county-wide steering committee. Robert D. Fowler, chairman of the group, expressed appreciation to the many organizations that supported and actively worked to get voters to the polls.

A sudden hard windstorm was reported in the Friday, April 24, 1964 paper as having struck Cobb County and killed between 1,000 and 1,500 chickens when it partially destroyed a building on the H.G. Tatum farm near Acworth. Other isolated damage was reported throughout the county.

Also that day, the Cobb Advisory Board was reported as voting to rebuild the old Sope Creek covered bridge that was destroyed by arsonists in the predawn hours of Easter Sunday. Commissioner Herbert McCollum said the project would cost between $20,000 and $25,000, while a regular bridge would cost $40,000 to $50,000.

20 years ago …

In the Tuesday, April 19, 1994 Marietta Daily Journal it was reported that a group of gay-rights activists trying to drive Olympic volleyball from the Cobb Galleria Centre had six U.S. lawmakers, including two Georgians, supporting their cause. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., joined the club with a letter to International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch saying the venue should be changed because the commission’s anti-gay resolution makes gays unwelcome in Cobb.

A Cobb officer shot in the face in a predawn gunfight on March 30 was reported in the Wednesday, April 20, 1994 paper as being happy to return to work, but wanted to be in a patrol car instead of a desk. Norman Schur and his training officer Robert Littler were shot by a man after the two officers checked on why he had parked his car near Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Littler was shot in the face and once in the back, while Schur was hit in the face.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at a gubernatorial race, a well rescue, a fire, a car theft ring and the Olympics.

100 years ago …

In Friday, April 17, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported that there were at least a half dozen candidates in the race for Governor. Col. J. Randolph Anderson of Savannah seemed to be “the most thoroughly in earnest so far” and had a summer home in Marietta. He was president of the Senate and would become Governor if Gov. Slaton resigned.

It was expected that A.A. Lawrence, another Cobb County citizen, would succeed Col. Anderson as Senator for the Savannah district. Dr. L.G. Hardman of Commerce had announced for Governor along with W.H. Burwell of Sparta, who was the speaker of the House; and W.J. Harris of Cedartown, who was the director of the Census. Railroad Commissioner Murphey Candler had considered entering the race, but had abandoned the idea.

50 years ago …

In the Sunday, April 12, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal it was reported that Laddie - a friendly, shaggy, 10-month old German Shepherd - poked his head into and then fell 65-feet down an abandoned well while exploring Blackjack Mountain in east Cobb with his master and four other children. The mother of the dog’s seven-year-old master called the fire department and within a few minutes rescue men from both Fuller’s and the Marietta departments arrived. The well was fortunately dry and the dog was rescued by a fireman who lowered slowly “to the bottom of the deep, rank well.”

Another story that day reported that the Marietta City Council had ordered a crackdown on delinquent taxpayers – including some who still owed money to the city from as far back as 1957.

The Army Corps of Engineers was reported in the Wednesday, April 15, 1964 paper as saying that Allatoona and Buford Dams prevented more than $1 million in downstream flood damages during the recent heavy rains. The rains raised the reservoirs behind the dams at the two flood control projects to the highest levels since operations commenced.

Preliminary data indicated that storage of flood waters in Allatoona Reservoir reduced stages on the Etowah River by as much as nine feet at Kingston, about 15 miles downstream, and by four feet at Rome. The estimates that stages at the Chattahoochee River below Buford Dam were reduced by over 13 feet at Norcross and eight feet at Atlanta.

In the Thursday, April 16, 1964 paper it was reported that an old, downtown Marietta warehouse, containing baby chicks, hay and fertilizer, was destroyed by fire late the night before. Firemen battled for several hours before extinguishing the blaze in DuPre’s warehouse on West Anderson Street. Only the charred brick walls and blackened roof beams remained.

The headquarters for a large car theft ring was reported in the Friday, April 17, 1964 paper as having been discovered after two men fleeing Deputy Ted Barrett crashed their car and ran. Over $3,500 worth of car parts were found in an old barn on the South 4-Lane (now U.S. Hwy. 41) near River Hill which served as the headquarter for the gang.

The discovery came after Barrett saw one man driving a 1963 model car and being pushed by a 1951 model car on Paces Ferry Road. When Barrett turned his patrol car around, the man in the lead jumped out, got into the other vehicle and the pair took off. Barrett said that later the two men lost control of their car and flipped into a ravine on Vinings Road before fleeing on foot. Police from Atlanta, Marietta and the county, along with bloodhounds, were brought in to hunt the suspects.

20 years ago …

One of Cobb’s last rural, unpaved roads was reported in the Monday, April 11, 1994 MDJ as expected to be closed because it was becoming a haven for trash-dumping and other illegal activity. County officials believed that closing the 1¼-mile stretch of the nearly 1½-mile long Hartman Road in south Cobb would “cure nefarious goings-on” along the road, which connects Factory Shoals Road and Riverside Parkway south of Interstate 20 and near Six Flags Over Georgia.

In the Friday, April 15, 1994 paper it was reported that the “sharks are circling around Cobb’s embattled bid to host preliminary Olympic volleyball competition” at the Cobb Galleria Centre. One day after a Colorado congresswoman asked the International Olympic Committee to pull the games from Cobb, a Georgia lawmaker stepped forward to offer Augusta as a substitute site.

Leaders of Olympics Out of Cobb, an umbrella organization for several gay and lesbian groups, unveiled a letter from 11th District U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Lithonia, during a press conference at the Inforum of Williams Street in Atlanta.

Gay rights activists were angry that Cobb commissioners had approved a resolution the previous summer critical of gay lifestyles. Olympics Out of Cobb had vowed to hold demonstrations and protests for the world media in 1996 if the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games stood by its decision to hold the volleyball games in Cobb.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at flooding, bomb threats, a movie deal, a blow torch assault and Fred Tokars.

100 years ago …

In Friday, April 10, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the entire front page was taken up by a “Clothes for Easter” ad by the T.L. Wallace Clothing Co. in Marietta. Deals included $1.50 to $4 straw hats; $6 Panama hats; $5 and $6 Men’s Florsheim Shoes; and $1.50, $2 and $2.50 Manhattan Shirts.

On the second page, it was reported that William Tate Holland sold the farm of the late Col. R.T. Nesbitt for $20,000 to R.E. Butler. Holland was cited as “one of the best posted real estate men in Georgia” and that Butler was “so familiar with Cobb County property that if you name a farm or tract of land he can almost tell you the record of title without stopping to think twice.”

50 years ago …

The Cobb Democratic party officials were reported in the Sunday, April 5, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal as having fired a strongly-worded rebuke at members of the county’s legislative delegation for failing to reach agreement on a multiple commissioners plan for county government. In a statement read during the Saturday meeting of the Cobb Democratic Executive Committee, Party Chairman George Bentley expressed “concern” that the solons were using the issue as a sounding board to “test their political strength.”

It was also reported that day that a U.S. Air Force Hercules turbo-prop transport plane flew a 30-man Swedish contingent to the troubled Mediterranean island of Cyprus to take part in a United Nations peace force. It was the first American action on behalf of the U.N force. Informed sources said U.S. planes were also expected to airlift the 600-man Irish contingent pledged for the U.N. force.

Druggist J.W. “Bill” Cooper was reported in the Monday, April 6, 1964 paper as having become the first candidate to qualify in the race for Cobb County Board of Education. This was the first year for members to seek election to the board. Previously they were appointed.

In the Tuesday, April 7, 1964 paper it was reported that 29 families were driven from their homes along the banks of the Chattahoochee River by the rain swollen muddy artery. Hardest hit was Paces Ferry Drive, which was only a few yards from the normal bank of the river. Most of the homes on nearby Cochise Drive, situated in a bend of the river, were saved from heavier damage by the small high bits of ground that most of the homes were built upon.

The following day it was reported that scores of lakeside cabins, trailers and boat docks were swamped as Lake Allatoona rose to a near-maximum high and threatened to pour over the dam. Army engineers were forced to open floodgates to prevent water from surging over the top. The move was expected to increase the flooding in the Rome area.

Another story in the Tuesday, April 7 paper reported that “Captain Newman, M.D.” and “Werewolf in the Girls Dormitory” had to wait on the Marietta Fire Department while firemen searched the Cobb and Strand Theatres for a non-existent bomb. Capt. Bartow Adair said both theaters received a call saying there was a bomb set to go off in 10 minutes. The girls in both ticket booths identified the voice as a deep voiced male teenager.

20 years ago …

In the Tuesday, April 5, 1994 MDJ it was reported that the two Cobb detectives suspended for accepting money in a movie deal concerning the November 1992 shotgun slaying of Sara Tokars were fired by the Cobb county Department of Public Safety. The firings were announced by deputy director Toby Toler who said in a statement that the two were “terminated for violations of department rules and regulations.”

The following day it was reported that the police lawyer accused of approving the movie deal for the two lead detectives in the murder case resigned before the public safety department finished its investigation into his actions. The probe into the man’s role in the movie deal signed by the detectives was expected to have been finished by the end of the week, according to Toler.

Another story in the Tuesday, April 5 paper reported that a Woodstock man burned his common-law wife with a propane blow torch after they argued and then was beaten by her son. The woman was taken to North Fulton Hospital in Alpharetta where she was listed in serious condition with second-degree burns to her face and chest. A Cherokee County deputy on patrol found the man unconscious in his front yard where he had “been beaten severely about the head and shoulders.”

In the Saturday, April 9, 1994 paper it was reported that federal prosecutors convicted Atlanta lawyer Frederic Tokars of arranging his wife’s November 1992 murder as part of a wide-ranging cocaine and money-laundering conspiracy. Tokars, a former prosecutor and part-time judge, was found guilty on all counts. He faced a maximum sentence of life without parole. But, Tokars’ legal battles were not over. He was to return to Cobb County, where his wife was shot to death and face a death-penalty trial. District Attorney Tom Charron said that the federal sentence would not prevent Tokars from being tried in Cobb Superior Court and would not take precedence over a death sentence.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at small pox, a fire, botched heists, Lockheed layoffs and an officer shooting.

100 years ago …

In Friday, April 3, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported a warning from the Board of Health regarding small pox. The article stated that any community can rid itself of the disease in 30 days by isolating every case, thoroughly fumigating the infected premises and vaccinating every individual in the community. The story also mentioned that the Atlanta Board of Health had published that 900 cases were recently treated, but only 10 of the people had been vaccinated.

Small pox, or the red plague, was a lethal infectious disease of the small blood vessels located in the skin, mouth and throat. In the skin, the disease manifested as a rash and later blisters. The disease was believed to be responsible for an estimated 300 to 500 million deaths during the 20th century. Fortunately, after successful vaccination campaigns in the 19th and 20th centuries, the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the eradication of the disease in 1979.

Also that week the front page held an ad for The Swiss Bell Ringers, a one day only show that was billed as “The Biggest Treat Ever Offered to the People of Marietta” and “The Most Expensive Act Ever Brought to The Gem Theatre.” Admission for the 2:30 p.m. show was 10-cents, the 4 p.m. show was 20-cents and the 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. shows were 25-cents.

50 years ago …

In the Sunday, March 29, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal, it was reported that the president of the Georgia Gold Star Mothers said the Army refused to supply a color guard for their State convention in May because there were no blacks in the organization.

A fire, apparently the handiwork of vandals, was reported in the Monday, March 30, 1964 paper as having razed the historic Sope Creek covered bridge before dawn on Easter Sunday and left a smoldering pile of tin and blackened beams in the creek bed. The fire was discovered by a motorist who was heading home from a party just as he rounded the curve before the bridge. Later that week, in the Wednesday, April 1, 1964 paper, it was reported that a $500 reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandals responsible for the fire.

Cobb County residents were reported in the Tuesday, March 31, 1964 paper as having flocked to buy the 1964 vehicle license plates on the day before the April 1 deadline. Throughout the morning a single file line serpentine from the tag office behind the courthouse down Lawrence Street with cars parked along Lawrence out to the post office. In the Thursday, April 2, 1964 paper, it was reported that 62,240 vehicle license plates were bought, which was 7,000 more than 1963.

Also that Thursday, lawmen searched Cobb and the surrounding counties for a would-be robber after his bold, patient plan to hold up the Bank of Acworth went astray. The bandit – wearing a pillow case with eye, nose and mouth slits for a mask – broke into the bank through the back door during the night and waited to accost the first employee reporting for work. But, the bandit – who was crouched behind a cabinet and facing the front door - was surprised by an employee entering at the rear entrance. The employee fled after the bandit pointed a large pistol him. Officers later found the pillow case tossed aside behind the bank.

The following day, Friday, April 5, 1964, the paper reported that burglars lugged a 500-pound safe down a flight of stairs at the Georgia Power Company’s Smyrna office before dawn. Officers on patrol drove around the building and discovered the safe in a panel truck ready to leave, but the burglars had fled. Bloodhounds were brought in to search the area, but failed to pick up on a trail. The manager of the office said that the effort wasn’t worth the gain since there was only $200-$300 dollars inside.

20 years ago …

Thunderstorms and tornadoes were reported in the Monday, March 28, 1994 MDJ as having killed at least 15 people in north Georgia. Cobb County was spared the brunt of the storms, but warning sirens wailed throughout the afternoon and evening as heavy winds, rain and hail swept through the county. A funnel cloud was spotted eight miles west of Powder Springs at 7:30 p.m., then another at 8:15 p.m. five miles north of Kennesaw and another at 9:31 p.m. near McCollum Field in Kennesaw.

In the Wednesday, March 30, 1994 paper, it was reported that Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Co. announced plans to lay off more than 2,000 of its 11,700 workers by the end of 1995, citing declining sales of the mainstay project, the C-130 Hercules transport. Cobb County was expected to suffer a $70 million local economic loss as a result of the layoffs.

A veteran Cobb Police officer and his rookie partner were reported in the Thursday, March 31, 1994 paper as being wounded in a pre-dawn shootout after checking a parked car in a secluded area of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. The 32-year-old man killed in the shootout was described as having trouble keeping jobs, often depressed and had a fascination with weapons and the military. A close friend of the assailant stated that he was convinced it was a desperate act of suicide.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at a mill accident, a prison escape, a gunshot wound, Sara Tokars and the F-22.

100 years ago …

In Friday, March 27, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported that the miller on Whitlock Avenue had a very narrow escape from a horrible death just before noon the previous Saturday. The man had gone into the engine room to put a belt on a pulley. When he reached up a set screw in the pulley caught his clothing. The man was then whirled around the shaft several times. Fortunately, on the first spin his foot struck the gas generator on the engine and knocked it away which caused the engine to stop. The slackening speed of the spinning shaft allowed him to fall down and saved him from “being beaten to a pulp.” However, three of his ribs were broken, one foot badly crushed and both of his legs were paralyzed.

Also that week there was an ad that dominated most of the second page of the paper for McClure’s Annual Housewives sale. For 10-cents each, shoppers could buy a scrub brush, a clothes line, a pair of children’s hose, a pair of ladies’ cotton hose, a ladies’ gauze vest, Huck towels, table napkins, a 10-qt. galvanized water pail, enamelware, a yard of colored oil cloth, a yard of embroidery, 5 bars of toilet soap, 16-oz. of talcum powder, a 8-oz. bottle of peroxide, a cloth brush, a card of pearl buttons, a horn comb, a whisk broom, a good pipe, scissors, box paper, crepe paper, gold band plates, a mixing bowl, a flower pot, a pudding pan, and a can of paint, stain or enamel.

50 years ago …

Nineteen prisoners in the Cobb County jail were reported in the Monday, March 23, 1964 paper as having torn bricks from a shower stall wall and crawling through the hole in a bid for freedom over the weekend. Sheriff Kermit C. Sanders said the men were lodged in the downstairs “bull pen,” which was an exercise area for the prisoners. To keep the guards in the dark, the prisoners had hidden the debris from their work in a mattress cover and placed a bed sheet over the gaping hole. After the plot was discovered through an informant, a brick mason was called to patch the hole and line the shower stall with sheets of metal. This was the fifth time that prisoners had tried to dig out through the shower.

Also reported that day, the Type III Sabin oral polio vaccine was administered to 32,245 Cobb County residents bringing the two-week total of immunizations up to 90,557.

In the Wednesday, March 25, 1964 paper it was reported that after five hours of deliberation, a Cobb County Superior Court jury upheld the 1963 tax revaluation program which had been challenged in a civil suit by eight county property owners. Had the verdict favored the plaintiffs, the collection of some $5 million in county property taxes would have been nullified.

Another story that day reported, the second suspect in the attempted burglary of the Woolworth store in Mableton was listed in “good” condition at Kennestone Hospital recovering from a gunshot wound and a self-performed operation. Sheriff Sanders and two deputies found the suspect at the home of a relative in Douglasville weak and woozy from a gunshot wound and blood loss after the man tried to cut the bullet out on his own with a razor blade.

20 years ago …

Cobb’s public safety director Robert Hightower was reported in the Thursday, March 24, 1994 MDJ as having been ordered not to discuss the ongoing investigation of two Cobb detectives accused of taking money for a movie deal related to the murder of Sara Tokars. Ralph Hicks, a Senior Cobb Superior Court judge, ruled that Hightower must refrain from discussing the case until the internal investigation had been completed and a decision was made. Ten days earlier, Hightower and District Attorney Tom Charron had announced at a press conference that the two detectives had signed a February 1993 movie deal with a California production company that paid them each $4,500 up front and were expected to later earn as much as $125,000 apiece.

In the Friday, March 25, 1994 paper it was reported that the General Accounting Office recommended delaying production of Lockheed’s F-22 by seven years, saying the current front-line fighter could outmatch any potential enemy. The report by the investigatory arm of Congress was a declassified version of a GAO study that examined the capabilities of potential enemy aircraft.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at a train robbery, a fist fight, a wounded solider, Cobb Hospital, Fred Tokars, neo-Nazi groups and a brush fire.

100 years ago …

In Friday, March 20, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported that a man was charged with the January 1914 robbery of the N.C. & St. L. Train in Vinings. After hearing testimony for most of the day in the Cobb County Superior Court, the jury brought a guilty verdict against him and a sentence of 20 years in the state penitentiary was pronounced by Judge Henry L. Patterson.

Also that week there was a story about Henry S. Manning buying the old Gem Theatre building on Lawrence Street from Marshall C. McKenzie. The building was to be remodeled and turned into a furniture store for J.S. Dobbins.

50 years ago …

A fist fight between two elderly men behind the Marietta Police Station after the Marietta City Council heard proposals for the closing of MacArthur Drive and MacArthur Circle was reported in the Sunday, March 15, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal. One man had requested the closing, while the other had spoken against it. The situation stemmed from the city’s efforts to eliminate street name duplications, which was drafted by City Planner Leo LaForge. After the 6-1 vote by the council to kill the plan, the two men went outside in the rain, fought it out and had to be separated by Chief E.R. Sanders.

It was reported in the Monday, March 16, 1964 paper that Lt. James E. Allerheiligen, a Smyrna airman critically wounded in the terrorist bombing of a Viet Nam movie theatre, had begun the week-long flight back to the United States. In the February attack, the airman was reported as having received near fatal head injuries and sat for days in a Saigon hospital unable to move or talk. At the time of his departure for home, the airman was walking, talking and had only a bandage under his left ear as visible evidence of his injuries.

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation announced in the Tuesday, March 17, 1964 paper that net earnings for 1963 were $43,254,000, which was up 16-percent from the previous record of $37,199,000 that was established in 1962. Sales for the year had increased 10-percent to $1,930,488,000 from the previous high of $1,753,074,000 in 1962 net sales.

In the Thursday, March 19, 1964 paper it was reported that the Cobb Hospital Authority had reaffirmed its decision to construct the new 150-bed South Cobb Hospital on a controversial 50-acre site at the intersection of Austell and Mulkey Roads, which currently is the location of WellStar Cobb Hospital. Members of the authority took action after listening to a lengthy statement from County Commissioner Herbert McCollum in which he branded as “cowardly” the charges stating that he had pressured the authority to approve the site earlier in the month. An over flow crowd of about 200 people turned out for the meeting and a large contingent from the Austell-Mableton area applauded loudly at times during the commissioner’s statement.

20 years ago …

A sleepover was reported in the Monday, March 14, 1994 MDJ as having turned deadly for an Austell sixth-grader when a friend pointed a pistol to the ground, fired a blank and then fired a second time at the boy, which killed him. The boy was pronounced dead at Cobb General Hospital in Austell after he was brought in with a gunshot wound to the neck. His friend was charged with murder, even though the victim’s father said that he believed it was an accident.

Two Cobb police detectives were reported in the Tuesday, March 15, 1994 paper as being taken off the Sara Tokars murder case for allegedly receiving money from a movie contract six months before the victim’s husband was charged with her murder. The detectives were placed on administrative leave for 10 days, pending the conclusion of an internal affairs investigation. The news came at a time when federal prosecutors were putting up their case against Fred Tokars at a trial in Birmingham, Ala., on money-laundering and racketeering charges. Tokars was also facing a death-penalty trial in Cobb Superior Court, where he was to be tried for murder, kidnapping and armed robbery in his wife’s November 1992 shotgun slaying.

In the Thursday, March 17, 1994 paper it was reported that representatives from the Atlanta-based Neighbors Network and the Cobb Citizens Coalition claimed that Cobb County was a hotbed for racist and neo-Nazi groups in Georgia. The groups also charged that the county commission had indirectly supported them through its anti-gay resolution and other public stances. The groups held a news conference in the Marietta Square to release a four-year study by the Neighbors Network that named Cobb as a “base for Nazi skinhead organizing.” The report detailed the activities of a number of current and former Cobb residents the Neighbors Network claimed were known Klan and anti-Semitic group sympathizers.

Another story that day reported that teens playing with matches in a wooded area near their home started a brush fire that burned 10 acres and threatened several homes near Harrison High School in west Cobb. It took 25 firefighters and 11 pieces of equipment to douse the fire that was fed by tinder-dry brush and driven by winds up to 30 miles per hour.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

This week’s Time Capsule looks at Southern Tech, a mayor’s stolen car, the Cobb Junior College, Cobb Hospital, the F-22 and a high-speed chase.

100 years ago …

In Friday, March 13, 1914 edition of the Marietta Journal and Courier, the front page reported the Cobb Superior Court’s calendar of criminal cases. Among the list of misdemeanors and felony charges were two liquor cases, a stabbing, a gambling and a robbery.

50 years ago …

Mayor Howard Atherton’s administration was reported in Sunday, March 8, 1964 Marietta Daily Journal that he had a plan which may produce a windfall of $238,000 or more for Marietta’s financially-troubled city government. The windfall would be produced by reissuing at a lower interest rate more than $1 million in revenue certificates which were put out in 1959 by the Marietta Board of Lights and Water.

In the Wednesday, March 11, 1964 paper it was reported that the State Board of Regents had given its approval for construction of a library and a combined gym – auditorium at Marietta’s Southern Technical Institute, currently the Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU). The formal okay on the two structures, which were estimated to cost $750,000, caught Southern Tech officials by surprise during the regents’ monthly meeting in Atlanta. The buildings were to be financed under Gov. Carl Sanders’ Master Plan for Education Bond Program. In all the regents gave their authorization for $71 million in work under the program which included buildings at every campus of the 21 universities and colleges in the state system.

Another story that day reported Acworth Mayor Mary McCall discovered her brand new 1964 Chevrolet was stolen. McCall, who had served several terms as Acworth’s chief executive, was making a speech at the Acworth School when the theft occurred. McCall said that a doctor’s bag belonging to her husband, which was in the car when it was stolen, was found north of Chattanooga, Tenn.

The County Board of Education and the City of Marietta were reported in the Thursday, March 12, 1964 paper as expecting to hold bond referendums in a move to provide funds for construction of the proposed new $2.35 million Cobb Junior College, which would eventually become Kennesaw State University. The county school board’s share of the construction costs would be $1,195,000 and the city’s would be $425,000. The request that the bond referendums be held on April 22 were revealed by Robert D. Fowler, chairman of the College Steering Committee, who presided at a Cobb Chamber of Commerce meeting attended by officials of the University System of Georgia and about 150 local politicians, business, civic and education leaders.

Also that day, the Cobb Hospital Authority had charged that it was pressured by County Commissioner Herbert McCollum into selecting a 56-acre tract on Austell Road as the site for the proposed new South Cobb Hospital, which currently is the location of WellStar Cobb Hospital. Members of the Authority made the allegation during a meeting with the South Cobb physicians and citizens. Their own choice, they said, had been a site at the intersection of South Cobb Drive and King Springs Road near Smyrna. Protests began to mount against the Austell Road and Mulkey Road site when the authority announced it as the proposed location of the new 150-bed hospital. The tract of land was being given to the county by Mableton Contractor Floyd Grainger.

20 years ago …

An Air Force report in the Tuesday, March 8, 1994 paper found problems with the stealth capability of the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter, a radar-evading jet to be assembled at Lockheed’s South Cobb Drive plant. Problems showed up several weeks earlier during a computer test of the F-22 design, according to the Air Force. A spokeswoman for the Air Force said the F-22 program director believed the problem could be fixed without affecting the plane’s development schedule or adding to its cost. The Air Force press release did not identify the specific problem areas, but a paper accompanying it said the computer found a problem with “smaller features of the plane rather than its overall design.” The Air Force paper expressed concerns about “the number of cracks, gap widths, panels, drain holes and doors on the aircraft.” Air Force officials also said they were concerned about radar-vulnerable areas around “air intakes, the radome, radar and engine [exhaust] nozzles.”

In the Thursday, March 10, 1994 paper it was reported that a 21-year-old Indiana man, who led Marietta Police on a 110-mph chase that damaged or destroyed seven cars – including one he struck head-on, was charged with 14 different offenses that included DUI, causing serious injury with a vehicle, reckless driving and car theft. The driver carried no identification, but was identified after police found a name stitched in a piece of his clothing. The high-speed chase went for about eight miles on northbound Cobb Parkway before crashing head-on into a car on state Highway 293.

Damon Poirier is the Newsroom Administrator for the Marietta Daily Journal.

If you are interested in learning more about the stories that were presented in this week’s column, you can search the newspaper’s digitized microfilm archives online. NewsBank, which hosts the archives for the Marietta Daily Journal, charges a fee for retrieved articles and has various price packages available. If you have any trouble with your username, password or payment options, please contact NewsBank at mariettadaily@newsbank.com.

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